


Simple Facts

by icantbestill29



Category: A Simple Favor (2018)
Genre: F/F
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-07
Updated: 2018-10-07
Packaged: 2019-07-27 16:22:59
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,512
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16222838
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/icantbestill29/pseuds/icantbestill29
Summary: Fact: Emily Nelson is not a nice person.Fact: Stephanie wants her anyway.If you would like to help fuel my writing (and coffee addiction),https://ko-fi.com/D1D8PPVN





	Simple Facts

Stephanie Smothers was a woman who relied heavily on facts. They soothed her nerves, in a similar way to piping frosting on a cupcake instantly calmed her shaking hands.

Fact: She is a devoted mother. Fact: She deserves happiness and success as much as anyone else. Fact: She did the right thing in the end, she did.

The funny thing about facts, though, is how convoluted they can get with a little alcohol and self-loathing. Her friendship (if one could call it that) with Emily left her with two things. One was a taste for a good martini and the other a taste for something she knew she couldn't have.

Her routine was consistent, mundane. Get Miles ready for school, film her vlog, run errands, cook, clean. It was all paced out in a nice, neat running list. Life was back to normal.

Then night loomed, after Miles went to bed and she was alone with her thoughts. A very dangerous place to be.

Her hands shook, wouldn't stop shaking, so she'd mix herself a drink. Strong. She focused her breath, in and out, pouring the gin, slicing a lemon, whirling the shaker in delicate, pretty circles. One sip would serve to calm her nerves. She'd make her way to the couch and sink into the cushions, tip her head back, her eyes would shut.

It was then and only then, that she would allow herself to think of Emily.

Fact: She often wondered when it was when she'd become so complacent, so fucking useless. Fact: She relived that day and 30 different versions of that day, over and over in her head. Fact: Emily wasn't a good person.

Fact: She didn't care.

Stephanie would slowly get drunk, drunk enough to drift a hand errantly under her skirt, just brushing her thigh. Emily's scent hadn't quite left her nostrils. Her hand would creep upward, painfully slow, guilt mixed with desire. 

It would have been easier if that small part of her, the part that was not silenced by soccer games and mommy vlogs and a fucking conscience, didn't recall stupid, insignificant details...the sinewy muscles of Emily's biceps when she hugged her, how her hair felt under Stephanie's hands, the way her nose wrinkled when she laughed. Easier still, if she could manage to forget, after an entire three years, the way it felt to kiss her. The sweet blossoming heat, the soft tug of her lower lip as Emily took it between her teeth, her hands on the side of Stephanie's face. The liquid courage gave her just the right amount of balls to re-play the kiss on a loop in her head as her fingers reached their destination.

Fact: She was fucked.

It had been years with no word from Emily. Not a single letter or phone call and Stephanie had to admit, she was relieved. Aside from her martini nights, she was too busy to think about Emily or anyone for that matter. That was why, she told herself, she didn't date. Her life was busy and she'd carved out a nice, if modest, income for herself and Miles. She'd toyed briefly with the idea of moving away, after the scandal, but there was no sense in running, no sense in Miles having to change schools, so she did what she did best, put on her brightest Stephanie Smothers smile and carried on.

The October morning dawned cool and clear. Stephanie had returned to her tiny house after putting Miles on the bus and began her morning routine: loading the dishwasher, some light cleaning, laundry. 

She hummed under her breath as she did the household chores, crossing items off the to do list penned in her neat cursive script. Once in awhile she caught herself softly singing the music Emily favored and when she did, her face instantly reddened at the mistake, her mouth clamping shut.

The dryer had just buzzed, signaling an end to the cycle, when the doorbell rang.

Odd, Stephanie thought, smoothing an imaginary wrinkle from her skirt. She wasn't expecting any packages. Tentatively, she rose and walked into the foyer and unlatched the deadbolt, opening the door just a crack.

And just like that, her knees buckled.

Emily didn't miss a beat, maneuvering her way in, her long arms firmly pinning Stephanie around the waist before she could hit the floor. "Oh baby," she smirked, eyes flashing amusement, no doubt at Stephanie's expense, "I missed you too."

Stephanie opened her mouth to speak but no sound came out. She could do nothing except gape at the woman in front her, in very close proximity, her arms still encircling Stephanie's waist. 

"Hey, it's all good," Emily spoke into her hair, breath warm on Stephanie's cheek. "It's all good, you're good." 

All at once, she was cupping Stephanie's face in her hands, her expression unreadable. She kissed her.

Stephanie had to give a silent thanks to muscle memory which helped her recall how to kiss, specifically how to kiss Emily, and her entire body betrayed her, hands sunk into Emily's hair, her chest pressed to hers. It was like falling, this kiss, and Stephanie kissed her back until she was dizzy. She didn't know if this was a hallucination or if Emily was actually standing in the foyer but what was left of her cognitive reasoning was being slowly depleted by what Emily was doing with her tongue. 

"Damn," Emily grinned, eyeing Stephanie up and down, "our little Steph is all grown up, huh?" 

"What are you doing here?" She finally managed to squeeze out. "How did you find me? I thought you were in prison. You're supposed to be in prison."

It was not lost upon either of them that Stephanie had made no move to disentangle herself.

Once again, she internally cursed herself for the magnetic pull or witchcraft or whatever it was that Emily held over her when the correct course of action would have been to call the police or ask her to leave. 

Emily ambled over to sit on the sofa, resting her hands on both knees and it dawned upon Stephanie that it was the first time she'd seen the other woman looking ordinary, dressed in jeans and a white t-shirt. But there was nothing ordinary about her face. The three years since she'd last seen her had made her more beautiful and Stephanie's stomach did the same painful little flip it had done when she'd stepped out of the car on that first day, all swagger.

"I'm on parole. It's pretty fucking amazing what a decent lawyer and good behavior will do." She jutted her chin, "of course, I'm broke and have nowhere permanent to live, but yeah, other that that, things are going great."

"What, so you think you can waltz in here and stay with me? Because I'm a naive moron who lets people just walk all over her, right?" She straightened her back, squared her shoulders. "Well, let me tell you something, missy, I am not about to fall back under your ridiculous spell, alright? I've changed. I'm not going to let you manipulate me."

Emily looked at her, mouth twitching before she shook her head. "Baby, c'mon. Do you think I came back here for that? Really?"

"Either that or to kill me," Stephanie said grimly. 

She laughed, once and then again, so hard she had to wipe her eyes. "Oh, shit, Stephanie. If I wanted to kill you, I would've, a long time ago. No, c'mon. You really have no idea why I came here?" She crooked a finger toward her. "Come sit next to me."

Everything in her body screamed what a terrible decision it would be, to keep as far away as possible but she went over and sat on the sofa anyway.

"I had a lot of time to think in prison, you know? And I thought about all the ways I'd fucked up. With Nicky, of course. With Sean. And with you. Someone who cared about me when no one else could be bothered. I was Sean's trophy wife but he never loved me. It was only ever you and Nicky. I see that now."

It was difficult to tell, as always, if she was being sincere or if it was just another con job. Stephanie knew she should have been wary, that her defenses should immediately go up. The woman was a psychopath, a murderer, and to even think about letting her in her home, about letting her anywhere near Miles, was...

Emily was in her space and all she could smell was jasmine as she leaned in, brushing her fingers against Stephanie's bare knee. "Baby..." she husked, barely above a whisper, "I came back to finish what we started. But you know that, don't you?"

Her lips met Stephanie's neck and she shivered once, twice, before crawling into Emily's lap. 

Fact: Emily was dangerous. Getting involved with her again was nothing short of insane and she was sure to wreck Stephanie's entire life.

Fact: She didn't give a fuck.

**Author's Note:**

> I love this ship and they deserved more, so this exists.
> 
> Please leave a comment and kudos if you enjoyed!


End file.
